Why I Despise Grading

Most of us love what we do. Teachers, I mean. We do love teaching - most of the time. But then it comes time to grade the papers. Those who can run all their tests through the Scantron machine have it easy, of course. But I'm talking about those of us who have to read and respond to nearly every assignment because it's our job to make sure these students can string words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs together in a way that makes sense and includes correct punctuation (seriously? OMG, yes correct punctuation).


With every red mark on the page, I am amazed by the lack of understanding of the concepts I just went over in class. I can't help wondering what exactly I did wrong:

"Did I somehow not explain what I was looking for in this assignment?"

"Did I just need to explain it a different way for this student to understand?"

"Should I even be teaching?"

And then, I get to the "good" papers in my stack. I employ a method of grading whereby I reward myself with the "good" papers after I have dragged through all of the "bad" ones. The good ones are those students who make it all worthwhile. Some of them started out in the bad part of the stack, but have actually worked to understand the material and use what they've learned. Others have natural ability and just get it. They are my reward because they take way less work to grade, and it's a joy to read when a student actually thinks about the assignment and responds thoughtfully. And it's a reward to know that I didn't totally botch the explanation because someone got it.

Does it make me a bad teacher that I resent having to wade through all the bad ones? After beating myself up about it, I realize that most of those students just don't care to improve. They're perfectly happy doing half ass work the night before the assignment is due to get a mediocre grade that will allow them, just barely, to pass the class and move on to the next class, where I will again have to deal with their unwillingness to improve themselves in a way that will positively affect their entire professional careers. (And yes, before you get all up in my case about that sentence, it is gramatically correct). Is it too much to ask for them to care at least half as much as I do about their grades?